Ethanol — the low-carbon fuel of the future
Find out how ethanol is being used to power a Case IH sugarcane harvester and scroll down to read from a customer testing it.
Read time: 4.5 minutes
Case IH is field testing the world’s first ethanol-fueled sugarcane harvester at a farm in Brazil’s São Paulo state. Farming doesn’t get much more sustainable than a harvester that runs on the very crop that it reaps
Ethanol fuel made from fermented and distilled sugarcane juice is a major boon for agribusiness. By taking advantage of an abundant and renewable resource, ethanol offers a viable alternative to fossil fuels. This is true not only in Brazil, the world’s second-largest producer of ethanol, as numerous biofuel producers around the world — including the United States, India and others — stand to gain.
Unlike diesel, ethanol reduces nitrogen oxide (NOx) by a minimum of 90% and emits negative greenhouse gas when considering the carbon that the sugarcane plant absorbs during growth. It is also much cheaper than diesel because of lower production and transportation costs.
Many Case IH customers in Brazil grow sugarcane, making it widely available even in remote rural areas. New equipment can be integrated into ongoing farm operations without the need to invest in adapting infrastructure. By growing sugarcane and using machinery run on ethanol, farmers can become more self-sufficient and save costs, creating a virtuous cycle inside their operations.
The Austoft 9000
Previously, efforts to develop an ethanol-fueled engine that could power farm equipment fell short because diesel engines can’t burn ethanol efficiently, since it requires a spark to ignite.
That changed when CNH and its partner, powertrain specialist FPT Industrial, took a heavy-duty engine running on compressed natural gas (CNG) which uses a spark for ignition (Otto Cycle Engine) and adapted it in Brazil to run on ethanol. The results were so encouraging that the Cursor 13 propellant engine was mounted for field testing on a model Austoft 9000 sugarcane harvester.
The Austoft 9000 boasts a host of technological innovations and went through over 300 hours of field testing. The Intelligent Feed Rate Control, which automatically adjusts the harvesting speed according to the density of the sugarcane, allows gains of up to 10% in productivity. It is also equipped with the telemetry system FieldOpsTM, which allows the operator and management team to monitor machine performance in real time, increasing operational efficiency. Nearly ten thousand of these machines have been produced at CNH’s plant in Piracicaba in the southeast of Brazil.
Developing the Austoft 9000 into an ethanol-fueled harvester required more than simply swapping one engine for another. It involved countless hours of engineering, adaptation and testing, and installing new software, fuel injectors and additional fuel and exhaust sensors. Larger radiators were added to cool the engine, which was running hotter.
The harvester is being trialed at a farm owned by the São Martinho Group in Brazil’s São Paulo state and the results have been very encouraging. The new engine is now just as powerful as its diesel equivalent, with 420 horsepower. And though farmers get less mileage out of the new harvester, they reduce their fuel bill by about 40% because ethanol is much cheaper than diesel. As fuel makes up around 30% of overall costs, that amounts to a considerable saving.
The harvester is being trialed at a farm owned by the São Martinho Group in Brazil’s São Paulo state and the results have been very encouraging. The new engine is now just as powerful as its diesel equivalent, with 420 horsepower.
The Case IH Austoft 9000 sugarcane harvester at Agrishow 2025 in Brazil.
Taking time to perfect the design
The new ethanol engine concept caught the attention of our customers when it was first unveiled in 2024 at the Agrishow in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo state, one of the three largest agricultural technology trade shows in the world. But when the Austoft 9000 harvester powered by the new engine was shown at the same fair a year later, it inspired serious interest from farmers.
“Every week I get a call from a customer asking me when it’ll be ready,” says Nilson Righi, Case IH Tactical Marketing Manager for Latin America.
However, testing on the harvester will continue throughout 2026, as Case IH is keen to maximize its performance, ensure long-term customer satisfaction and secure CNH’s reputation for innovation and quality.
“We know that it works. We still have some adjustments to make, to boost fuel efficiency, and want to clock many hours to test its longevity,” says Righi. “We’re only going to launch this when we know it is the best product it can be.”
Case IH engineers are on site at the São Martinho farm to receive first-hand feedback from the operators of the harvester.
“They help us develop it. We are partners,” Righi says about the longstanding tradition at CNH of working with and for customers to develop next-generation farm equipment.
In the next few years, CNH expects to reach the final stages of the development project so that deliveries could start soon.
At the same time, Case IH will launch a dedicated training program for users. Existing training programs have already helped more than 20,000 people in Brazil gain the most out of Case IH harvesters, promoting technological inclusion and regional development.
Every week I get a call from a customer asking me when it’ll be ready
The Case IH Austoft 9000 sugarcane harvester working in the field.
The future potential of ethanol fuel
The timing couldn’t be better. Brazil has committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2050 and the farming industry has a central role to play in achieving this goal. As of 2025, sugarcane growers will be able to get carbon credits (CBIOs) for decarbonization efforts, including the purchase of new, low-emission farm equipment. That will build on efforts such as a ban on burning sugarcane fields and the increased production of biomasses such as sugarcane bagasse, the fibrous residue left after juice extraction, to generate energy.
There is also a new but fast-growing trend in Brazil to produce ethanol from corn (maize). This will greatly increase the availability of the biofuel throughout the country, in turn making it more attractive as a fuel for any agricultural activity.
Indeed, the sugarcane harvester won’t be the only ethanol-driven machine in the future. After initial bench testing by FPT Industrial, in August 2025 the N67 ethanol-driven engine was mounted on a Case IH Puma tractor in the Curitiba plant and deployed for field testing at São Martinho to pull a chaser bin alongside the biofuel Austoft 9000.
“In the long run, the idea is to offer an ethanol option on the entire Case IH portfolio of equipment, including grain harvesters and tractors,” says Righi.
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